TV Review

Okay. I finally gave in to the Tumblr pressure and started Orange Is The New Black. 

Like I needed another show to watch.

But it’s conveniently located on Netflix, and I have a bunch of time to watch while I work out, so I thought I’d break up my geeky sitcoms and crime fighting shows with this. Let's just say I was not expecting what I got.

Full disclosure, I’m not a huge fan of Piper Chapman. I’m not a huge fan of Larry Bloom. I’m only a fan of Alex Vause because she’s played by the beautiful and lovely Laura Prepon. Basically, I don’t really like the main characters based on various personality issues. 

For me, the minor characters make this show worthwhile. I’m not sure if that was a play by the writers to make us as viewers feel for the everyday women who go to prison, or if I’m just a minor character lover, or the fact that I think like an anthropologist. But to me, the other girls’ stories are way more interesting than the torridly tangled triangle that is Piper, Alex, and Larry. 

Russian Janeway (aka Kate Mulgrew aka Red) has to be my favorite, along with her ragtag team of girls like Gina the assistant cook, flower child Yoga Jones, and Nicky the sarcastic former drug addict. I loved Nicky from the first moment I saw her. 

But there are so many more women, each with their own heart-wrenching story about why the ended up in prison: Sophia, the transgender credit card stealer who becomes friends with a nun arrested for trespassing; Poussey and Taystee, the adorable besties who had difficult childhoods; Miss Claudette, who got arrested for slave trade but actually killed a man to protect one of her charges; and Daya, the daughter of a Spanish drug cartel who falls in love with a prison guard. And that's not even half of the extras that make this show spectacular. 

Poussey

Daya and her mother, Aleida 

Kitchen staff: Norma, Red, and Gina

Suzanne, aka Crazy Eyes

Sophia and Sister Ingalls

In the end, I watch this show for them. They’re the ones that deserve to have their stories told, and I’m more willing to listen to them fight for their freedom rather than listen to Piper whine about her life and her choices. The minor characters speak to me in a way that Piper and her crew can't. 

I watch for the little characters that make the show what it is: brilliant.